Rescue Team Epsilon
by electric-ashes
Summary: PMD, POV, Trapped in a body that's on the verge of self destruction, on a planet that's tearing itself apart, emotionally blackmailed into a high stress job... And that's just day one!


Pokemon Mystery Dungeon

Rescue Team Epsilon

Prologue

* * *

Have you've ever woken up one day and immediately regretted it?

Don't get me wrong, it was probably a good thing that I woke up that day. After all the middle of a forest isn't exactly the safest place to sleep. Not that I knew why I was in a forest to begin with. I suppose the simple fact that I woke up in a forest would be the first sign that this wasn't going to be a good day. Actually, believe it or not, being in a forest was probably the last thing I noticed anyway.

Let me start from the beginning.

As you may have gathered I was asleep, and I was sleeping rather soundly. I had absolutely no idea that I was in the middle of the forest, as far as I was concerned I was still in my bed where I would usually be when I sleep. Apparently the change of my surroundings wasn't what stirred me.

What did stir me however was this... tingly sensation, a sort of warm fuzzy feeling. And for some reason this new sensation made me aware that something near by was approaching me. I'm sorry that I can't describe it better than that, it's not the sort of sensation a human should feel.

Of course I wanted to know what this new feeling was so I tried to force myself up. Waking up was rather easy when I realised that I wasn't sleeping on a mattress or under a duvet. Since I wasn't really thinking at the time I didn't find those two details to be out of the ordinary.

I stretched my arms and gave a yawn. It was when I was rubbing the sleep out of my eye that my brain started to work. That was when I noticed my hands were blue.

No, my paws were blue.

I had paws!

I leapt up and took a good look down at my body. Except it wasn't my body, it was the body of a pokemon. Short yellow fur with blue patches on my upper paw, a tail that had a minus shaped block on the end of it. I had the body of one of those electric rodents, oh what are they called... Min... Min-something-or-other.

I reached up to my head in the vain hope that perhaps what I was seeing was a lie, that my head was still human and I was just wearing a really convincing costume or something. My hopes were shattered when I couldn't feel my hair. What I felt was more fur and two long non-human ears.

I was starting to panic. I couldn't accept the fact that I am now a pokemon. I ran about the forest trying to find something reflective. I needed to see my face. But it was all in vain as there weren't any reflective surfaces in the area. All I managed to do was give myself a migraine.

"Excuse me," someone called out. In my panic I completely forgot about my 'radar' senses that I suddenly have and the thing I sensed earlier was now in plain view. It was the red counterpart of... whatever I've just turned into.

I ran. The pokemon followed. "Wait!" she...

She? Is it a she? For all I know it could've been a he.

Well whatever it is, it tried to get me to stop. However I ignored them. I just wanted to get away. For some reason my migraine was getting worse. And on top of that I started to get sharp stabbing pain in my gut.

I tripped. I tried to get back up but the pain had spread throughout my entire body and on top of that I was starting to have trouble breathing. The pain was simply too much. I felt like a buzz saw was tearing up my insides (or at least that's what I imagined that's what it would be like since I never had a buzz saw tear up my insides before, not that I can remember). I tried to scream out in pain but my screams came out as pathetic gasps for air.

While I curled up in pain the pokemon managed to catch up to me. It tried to say something, but I couldn't hear them.

I was turned on to my back. The pokemon got on top of me and started to massage my cheeks. I don't know why but my breathing started to return to normal and I felt much better.

"Are you okay?" the pokemon asked while helping me up.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I replied. I was shocked to hear someone else's voice come out of my mouth. It was just like the pokemon who saved me, except a bit more low pitch.

I tried to clear my throat and started to say 'hello' in various tones and pitches. This is going to take some getting use to.

The pokemon looked on with a concerned look on their face. The type of 'concern' you would give to those wackos who wear tinfoil hats. "Your weird," it muttered and then out loud asked, "Hey Minun, why didn't you discharge that excess electricity?"

Huh? "Discharge?"

The pokemon nodded. "You were overcharging yourself. Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?"

I shook my head. "No, I don't. You probably won't believe me but I'm not a pokemon."

By the look on it's face it didn't believe me. "But you look and feel just like a normal Minun. If your not a pokemon, what are you?"

"I used to be a human."

The pokemon blinked and tilted it's head to the side. "What's a human?"

Well that's definitely not good. How do I explain what human is. "Look, basically I didn't use to be an electric type pokemon so I don't know how to 'discharge'." I took a moment before adding, "Actually I'm not entirely sure how I charged electricity in the first place."

"Well how did you become a pokemon then?"

"That's what I would like to know."

I wasn't bothered by the fact that I'm talking to a pokemon and that pokemon was talking back to me. I just discovered that I am a pokemon. The concept of pokemon being able to talk isn't really that surprising anymore.

As I collected my thoughts it finally dawned on me that I'm in the middle of a forest. "Perhaps you would be able to answer some questions that I have. For starters where are we anyway?"

The pokemon raised an eyebrow... actually it looked more like raising an eyelid. "You don't know where you are?"

"'fraid not."

"Well then, this is the Tiny Woods. Which is near the Pokemon Square."

I nodded. "Uh-huh. And what region is this?"

The pokemon's face dropped. "Region?"

It doesn't know what a region is? Good thing I can actually define that word. "This land mass, what is it called?"

"It doesn't have a name; we just call it the mainland."

What? "Then what would you call other mainlands?"

"There are no other mainlands. It's just the ocean and the mainland." The pokemon paused. "Well there are islands that do have names," it admitted, "But they're tiny compared to the mainland or the ocean."

Based on what this pokemon has told me so far one of three things has happen.

One; I've ended up in a very isolated part of the world.

Two; I've travelled in time to a future where pokemon have outlived humans or,

Three; I've ended up in a world where humans never existed at all.

And I'm not entirely sure which of the three I should hope is true.

"Either way I'm a long way from home." I thought out loud. "So anyway, why are you here? It doesn't seem like you're just taking a stroll." I asked.

"Actually, I came to see if you were okay." The pokemon admitted.

"What? But how did you know I was even here?"

"Because your an electric type pokemon. We're sensitive to each others electrical field."

"So that how I knew you were coming." That solved the mystery of my new senses. "But why would you think I wasn't okay?"

"Well a strong electrical field like yours just couldn't of simply appeared from nowhere. I thought you could of been seriously hurt."

From the pokemon's tone I could tell this day won't be getting better. "Why would you think that?"

The pokemon was apparently surprised that I had to ask. "You mean you don't even know that?"

For a brief moment I honestly thought that maybe it would better if I didn't know. That I would be happier if I remained in ignorance. "Pretend I don't."

"Well, lately there have been lots of natural disasters. Earthquakes, thunderstorms, tornados, forest fires, tidal waves. Lots of pokemon have been suffering because of it."

Oh this is just terrific. I wake up in the middle of nowhere, in a body that was on the verge of self destructing, in a world where humans don't exist and that is also tearing itself apart! I can safely say that this is the worst day ever! And I only just woke up as well!

I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Calm down," the pokemon said, "You'll just overcharge yourself again."

Ah. So the electricity I charge is based on my emotions. That's good to know. This pokemon has helped me a lot even if most of it was bad news.

"Thank you. You've been very helpful... erm, what's your name anyway?"

Wait a minute, did I just ask something stupid? Do pokemon have names? Well, they must have some way of identifying each other. At the very least they would tell me what they are even if they don't say who they are, right? But the time it's taking for this pokemon to decide to answer my question is a bit unnerving. What's going on in the pokemon's mind? Why can't it decide whether or not to answer my question?

"My name is Reiko." The pokemon finally said.

Reiko. That's a girl's name isn't it? So I was right the first time.

"But you know," Reiko added, "You really shouldn't ask for someone else name until you give you own."

Oh, is that it? "My name is Alex." I said. Still, my 'rudeness' couldn't have been the only reason it took Reiko so long to decide to tell me her name. "Well, anyway. Thanks again Reiko. See ya."

I couldn't stand around here all day. I started to leave and then Reiko asked me to wait. "Where are you going?" she asked while she caught up to me.

"I have to find out how I got this body. I have to find out how I got here." Okay, so that didn't really answer her question, but it was the only reply I could think of.

"But how do you plan to do all that?" she asked.

I stopped in my tracks. That was a good question really. I mean I know I have to find a way to become human again, but truthfully I have no idea where I'm suppose to begin.

Reiko picked up on my uncertainty "Listen, Alex," she said, breaking the awkward silence. "If you don't have a place to stay, you could always live with me."

What? "Why would you offer your place to a stranger?" I asked.

"Your not a stranger." Reiko smiled back, "Your Alex."

Okay, I'm starting to get the feeling that it was a mistake to tell this pokemon my name. It's becoming clear to me that names have more significance to pokemon then to humans. After all, Reiko would never of offered to stay with her if she was a human and if all she knew was my name. I guess I shouldn't give out my name so recklessly from now on. I don't want to cause any misunderstandings.

But you know what; it would probably be in my best interest to stay with her. After all I don't know where I am or how to control my powers and since I don't know any attacks I'm practically defenceless. "Okay, so where is your place?"

"Follow me."

* * *

I can't say that the trip was uneventful. However most of what happened was rather boring really. Oh sure there was that earthquake, but then that was just a minor inconvenience at best. The ground shook, that's all that happened, that's basically it. Oh, and there were one or two Pidgey attacks but they were easily scared off by Reiko. I really don't want to bore you with what would essentially be list of minor inconveniences.

However there was something that is worth mentioning. Sometime after the earthquake we came across this giant hole in the ground, no doubt the result of said earthquake. We walked up to it to take a closer look. It was then that we started to hear faint sobs.

"Someone fell in," said Reiko. "Hello, are you okay?" she called into the fissure.

"No," the voice called back. "I fell in and can't get back up."

"Don't worry, I'll help you."

I got the feeling that Reiko was about to climb into the fissure so I went in front of her to block her. "What do you think your doing?"

"We have to help him," she said.

That's not true. We could always pretend we didn't hear him. Of course I didn't say that out loud. "And what good would just climbing in do? You don't know how deep this hole is or if you would be able to climb out again."

Reiko was speechless. She obviously didn't think this through. After a moment of thinking she asked me, "Well, what should we do then?"

Now it was my turn to think. I was tempted to just say 'forget about him' but I doubt she would be too impressed by that. Mind you we don't exactly have a lot to work with here. No ladders, no rope, heck there wasn't anything that even resembled rope. Although, we could probably use a branch.

I looked around the tree tops to try and find a big yet loose tree branch. "Hey Reiko. Do you think you can zap that branch down?" I said, pointing to a promising looking branch.

She nodded a yes. Reiko charged up a spark in her paws and it hurled it at the branch I was pointing to. The small explosion only slightly chard the branch but managed to scare away the pokemon that was in the tree. She tried a second, a third, a fourth. It wasn't until the fifth spark that the branch finally fell off the tree and onto the ground with a loud thud.

I went to pick up the branch. It was rather heavy. "Reiko, help me with this." We lifted the branch to the fissure. If nothing else, we could use the branch to check how deep the hole was. Luckily the branch was long enough to reach the bottom. "Hey, can you see the branch?" I asked the guy in the hole.

"Yes." replied a voice from the fissure.

"Okay, can you reach it?"

"Yes."

"Great. Now, hold onto the branch tightly and we'll pull you up."

We felt some extra weight on the end of the branch. "Are you ready?" I asked.

"I'm ready."

"Okay, lift." I told Reiko. With great effort we pushed the branch downward like a lever. The other end of the branch eventually came into view...

HOLY SHIT!

In my surprise I let go of the branch and bumped into Reiko which forced her to let go of the branch and the Caterpie on the end of the branch fell back into the fissure.

Don't look at me like that. You would've been shocked too if you saw a man-sized Caterpie. Let me tell you they're not as cute as in those stupid children picture books!

"Why did you do that?" Reiko asked with an annoyed tone in her voice.

I didn't notice the tone of voice at the time. My heart was beating like a jackhammer and I was trying to return my breathing to normal. "Sorry." I said between gasped. "I wasn't expecting that." During all this Reiko was at the hole, probably trying to assure the Caterpie that we didn't do that on purpose.

My breathing finally returned to normal and with a gulp I said "Okay, I think I'm ready now. Maybe I should be behind you this time."

We took our positions and Reiko told the Caterpie that we were ready. We pushed the branch downward like last time. Except this time when the Caterpie came into view I averted my gaze. We moved backwards until the Caterpie was safely out of the fissure.

We dropped the branch. Reiko went up to the shaking Caterpie and...

Ewww.

She's touching it!

She's touching IT!!

She was rubbing it's head and she asked, "Are you okay? What happened?"

"Well, Miss Plusle, me and my mummy went to Pokemon Square and I went to the fields to play and then I was attacked by bigger pokemon..."

"What?" Reiko interrupted. "You were attacked, by other pokemon?"

"Wait; is that sort of thing really that unusual?" I asked. Not that I'm a pokemon expert or anything but I would of thought that sort of thing would be common practice. Especially against bug types.

"Well, it's suppose to be." Reiko explained. "But lately pokemon have started to lose their minds and are beginning to turn on each other."

I nodded. So I'm going to have to contend with mad pokemon on top of everything else. "I see. So when did pokemon start to go feral?"

Reiko placed her paw on her lip and took a second to think about it. "Actually it started around the same time the natural disasters occurred."

If I'd suspected at the time that the pokemon going feral and the natural disasters were directly related to each other I probably would of asked more questions. Instead I simply said, "I see."

"Wow," the Caterpie said. "You really are weird aren't you Mister Minun."

I shot a glare at Reiko. "What on Earth did you tell him?!"

"Anyway." Reiko said, ignoring my question. "We should probably get moving. It's not a good idea to stand around in one place for too long." I started to dash in the direction we were going before we came to this hole but slowed down almost instantly when I realised that Reiko wasn't ready to move yet. "My name is Reiko by the way," she told the Caterpie.

Even though I've decided earlier that I should not to give out my name recklessly I think I should tell my name to this Caterpie. If my current theory about pokemon and names is true then maybe the Caterpie would be more willing to forgive me if he knew my name. "And I'm Alex. Sorry for letting go of the branch."

"Apology accepted Mister Alex," the Caterpie said. "Miss Reiko told me that you're not from around here."

So Reiko told the Caterpie that I'm not from around here. But what else did she tell him?

* * *

It wasn't long before we managed to get out of the Tiny Woods. Although truth be told I have a feeling that we should of gotten out of that forest a lot sooner then we did.

Ah well, I'm just glad to be out in the open. The bright clear blue sky stung my eyes for a split second before my eyes adjusted and I was able to take in the view. The field was vast and bare with a few pokemon of various shapes and sizes, of course only the medium to big sized ones could be seen clearly from this distance. Most of the pokemon were to my left near this collection of small huts of equally diverse shapes which were centred around a cliff with a waterfall.

I pointed to the collection of huts. "Is that Pokemon Square?" I asked.

Reiko nodded. "Yes, that's right."

The Caterpie was in awe. "Pretty..." was the only thing he managed to get out.

And I'd have to agree with him. Although the huts would be rubbish by human standards, I'm actually impressed that pokemon were able to build something like this. Although that's mainly because I never viewed pokemon as the creative type.

I wish I had a camera with me.

"You can see the whole Square from here," the Caterpie added as an afterthought. Hmm, I wonder if that's true.

"Say Reiko, can you see you house from here?" I asked.

Both the Caterpie and the Plusle gave me the 'what are you talking about' look. "House?" Reiko asked.

"It's another word for 'home'. Which building do you live in?"

Reiko scanned the scenery. "That one," she pointed. "It's the one that looks like a giant Leppa Berry."

The giant 'Leppa Berry' was to the far left, somewhat isolated from the rest of the Square. Mind you it was one of the few huts with a front lawn, that's outlined by bushes.

Wasting no time I dashed out of the cover of the trees and into the open field. "Wait a moment." Reiko called. I stopped and turned to her. "It's not safe to be out in the open by yourself."

I couldn't help but snicker. "Oh now your just being paranoid. This is an open field," I said spreading my arms out for emphasis. "We could see any pokemon coming miles away. What could possible ambush us at this point?"

And at that precise moment, as if just to spite me, I was snatched by this giant metal bird. "Oh for Arceus sake!"

I tried to struggle out of the bird's grip as I begin to panic. And as I panicked the migraine and stomach aches returned and grew. The more the pain grew the less I tried to struggle free. The pain was too much to bare, I was beginning to black out.

I was slipping in and out of consciousness at this point so I only have a vague recollection of what happened next so please bare with me.

For some reason the metal bird released me from it's grip. I must of started to fall to the ground at that point. However I wasn't really bothered by it. For some reason the plummet felt oddly comforting.

I somehow landed on something, yet at the same time I was still plummeting. My back was definitely resting on something but it did nothing to break my fall. I could make out some grey shape but my blurred vision prevented me from identifying it.

I stopped falling very soon. Though I'm fairly certain that I wasn't on the ground. Thinking about it I must of been in the hands of what felt like a rock type pokemon.

Eventually I was lowered onto what was definitely the ground. And then this yellow shape, must of been Reiko, appeared before me.

My body relaxed and it became easier to breath. My hearing became gradually clearer, or so I assume as someone was calling my name.

I blinked a few times to try and restore my sight. Sure, it would of been easier to just lie there and embrace the blackness but instead I try to force myself back into consciousness.

Reiko wrapped her arms around me when I managed to sit back up. I was still a bit light headed so I didn't resist her embrace. In the corner of my eye I saw some kind of giant rock. And by the sounds of it, it was talking about something to someone I couldn't see.

I turned my head to see the giant rock leave and it was with two more giant rocks, one which could very well be its twin and the other that had a much smoother surface.

Reiko asked something I didn't catch. "Huh?"

"Are you okay?" she repeated.

I shook my head not to says 'no' but rather to recollect my thoughts. I brought my arm up to balance my head. "Yeah, I think so." I looked back to where those rock pokemon were walking. "Who were those guys?"

"They were the ones who saved you from that Skarmory," said a voice behind me. I tried to turn around and stumbled when I saw it was a man-sized Butterfry. Luckily Reiko managed to catch me. "Don't worry, I covered the expenses."

"You didn't have to do that," said Reiko.

"It was the least I could do for the ones who rescued my baby," the Butterfry explained. "Besides I was the one who hired them in the first place."

"Thanks." I managed to get out.

"No, thank you kind Minun. You too Plusle," bowed the Butterfry. "My name is Patch."

A brief pause and then the Caterpie added, "And my name is Nibbles."

"Your welcome. My name is Reiko."

"I'm Alex." I said without thinking.

The Butterfry, Patch, bowed again. "You honour us. I hope we meet again soon. Good bye."

Patch glided away with her son Nibbles following. When the two left our view Reiko returned her attention to me. "We should get going too. Do you think you can stand up?"

I tried to get back on my feet but immediately stumbled. Thankfully Reiko caught me yet again. "Here, lean on me."

* * *

You wouldn't be able to tell that everything was going to hell looking at the pokemon at Pokemon Square. I mean when you look at the relaxed nature of the pokemon here it's like they don't care that this planet is slowly tearing itself apart and that other pokemon were regressing into feral mad men... mad mons...

"Okay Reiko," I said while releasing myself from her grip. "I think I can walk by myself now."

Now that I think about it, it was rather surprising and weird looking at the pokemon here. In my mind pokemon are suppose to act like the feral maniacs that tried to eat Nibbles and kidnapped me. Seeing pokemon act like... well, humans, is just rather disturbing really. It was like I was suddenly in the middle of a furry convention (again, that's what I imagine, not that I've ever been to a furry convention. Not that I could recall).

You know, it's starting to occur to me that I don't really remember anything about myself. I know my name and I know everything I've ever learnt at school yet I can't recall what school I go to or even who my family and friends are.

Hopefully it's because all my brain power is focused on the plain absurdity of my current predicament. Perhaps when the novelty of all this has worn off it will be easier to remember things. That has to be it. At the moment there are just too many questions and not enough answers.

Speaking of which. "Say Reiko, what did Patch mean by 'cover my expenses'? Who were those guys?" I asked.

"Which guys? You mean the ones that rescued you?"

I nodded, "Yeah, those giant rocks."

"They were Team Rumblerock. They're a rescue team."

I waited for an elaborating but none came. Did she really think that would explain anything? I've been trying to stress to her that I'm not a pokemon. Does she think that we humans have rescue teams?

Actually humans do have rescue teams but as far as I know human rescue team are a spur the moment type things that consist entirely of volunteers. So Reiko's response doesn't explain the whole expenses thing.

Reiko looked over her shoulder and read the expression on my face. "Because of the natural disasters many pokemon are following the example of the legendary Lucario and Absol and formed their own rescue teams to help pokemon in need."

"Okay, so what are the legendary Lucario and Absol?"

"It's a really well know myth..." Reiko hesitated for a brief moment. I think she was trying to figure out where to begin. "That's really something you should ask Oldman Blue, he tells the story better then anyone."

I shook me head. "I'm not here to be entertained. If you know of the myth then just give me a brief summery."

We stopped walking and Reiko turned to face me and told the tale. "Well there was this settlement that was terrorized by what by an Absol, the pokemon of disaster. A wandering Lucario who was passing by confronted the Absol and freed his heart from the shadows. The reformed Absol was ashamed of what he had done and so he travelled with Lucario so he can redeem himself for all the trouble he caused. And that's how the very first rescue team was formed."

"Interesting," I said. It was the 'freed his heart from the shadows' bit that I found most interesting. I wonder if that was a reference to something that I've heard of back from where I'm from.

We all know that aura is supposedly the life force of all living things right? Well there have been tales that some pokemon are able to become a lot stronger and become resistant to attacks that they would ordinarily be weak against. When this happens the pokemon's aura supposedly changes colour from 'blue' to 'black'. I say 'supposedly' because aura doesn't corresponds with the human colour spectrum, in other words humans can't actually see aura.

Anyway the 'colour' change isn't the only side effect to this new power. Pokemon with 'black' auras either lose their emotions or lose their minds entirely.

Of course that is all just a myth. No one has ever actually encountered such a pokemon. But there are some who believe that these 'shadow pokemon' could theoretically exist.

"There are many tales of Lucario and Absol's bravery and even though they were often offered rewards for their bravery, they never accepted them." Reiko looked away and lowered her head in disgust and in a similar tone she then said. "Unfortunately, most rescue teams aren't quite that modest."

"So basically they took this noble legend and perverted it into a get-rich-quick scheme. These so called 'rescue teams' are really nothing more then hired thugs." I summarized.

Reiko gave me 'the look' again. "What's a thug?"

"Never mind..."

It wasn't long before we made it to Reiko's home. "Well this is the place..."

From a distance it looked impressive...

Up close it was a piece of crap!

Well, 'crap' by human standards. If we bare in mind that this was built by a pokemon then this could be considered a work of art. It certainly looked sturdy enough and the wood work was certainly a sight to behold. What concerned me though was the lack of doors or windows. I mean what's to stop one of the bigger pokemon from just walking in and kick us out or worse, eat us in our sleep. It just didn't seem the type of place that you could actually live in.

"Oh, Alex. Your impressed, aren't you?" said Reiko with obvious pride printed on her face.

'Impressed' wouldn't be the word I'd use. I was definitely something though...

My head turned slightly to the left as I became focused on the mail box at the front of the house. "Oh? Never seen one of those before? This is what we pokemon call a 'mailbox'." Reiko said in a condescending tone. She obviously doesn't believe that I use to be a human.

"Yes, I'm well aware of what a mailbox is. I'm just surprised that you actually receive mail."

"Really? Why?"

"Well, from what I can see, none of the places here have an address."

There was that look again. "What's an address?"

"What I mean is how does the guy who deliver the mail know that you live here instead of anywhere else?"

Reiko was obviously struggling for an answer. "They just do..."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "Right, some all knowing pokemon is in charge of the post and knows exactly where to deliver each piece of mail at any given time!"

"Anyway," Reiko said, trying desperately to change the subject. "Why don't we go inside?"

I was expecting the inside to be rather empty. To my surprise it was actually a bit crowded really. There where two flower pots as well as a few flowers growing from the ground, though I can't tell if these are weeds or they are suppose to be there.

Reiko pointed to a pot to the left. "This is the drinking water," she then pointed to a large chopped tree stump surrounded by smaller chopped tree stumps, "And that is the living area," she then pointed to a pile of hay to the right, "This is where I sleep," and finally she pointed to a larger pile of hay that dominated the room, "And that's where you'll be sleeping, which is great because up until now it's just been wasted space."

I approached the pile of hay. So I'm going to have this all to myself I am?

"You know Alex," Reiko began, "I might not know what a 'thug' is but I get the impression that you're not very impressed by what rescue teams are turning into and you know what neither am I. After all innocent pokemon are suffering and they are getting exploited for it. Rescue teams shouldn't be like that. I want to help pokemon in these tough times. I want to help change the world for the better. And I want to do this not for personal gain but simple because it's the right thing to do."

"Good for you. Wish you the best of luck." I said while waving my hand. But she's obviously not saying all this just to let me know.

"So, uh..." she hesitated, "Well, I would've of never been able to rescue Nibbles without you. So..." Here it comes, "How about we form a rescue team together. Alex, with you, I think we could even become as good as Lucario and Absol. How about it?"

I didn't even have to think about my answer. "No."

"Huh?! But..." Reiko's eyes were wide and her mouth hung open. Looking at her expression you'd think I just said 'I eat pokemon', which I probably do but then that's normal for a human.

"Look Reiko, in case you weren't paying attention I do have problems of my own, 'kay? I want to find out what happened to me and reverse it as quickly as possible. Besides I don't think such a high stress sounding job would be good for my health."

Reiko looked at me trying to hold back her tears. "But I was so sure we would make a first-class rescue team." She turned away and let her tears flow. While she sobbed I could barely make out an "I just wanted to help..."

Good going you idiot, I cursed to myself. This Plusle has done nothing but help me since the moment I met her and how do I repay her kindness? By making her cry!

I doubt anyone could be heartless enough to not feel guilty if they had caused such a spectacle. "On the other hand, I don't really know where to go and I don't really have anything better to do. I'd be honoured to join your rescue team."

Reiko did an instant emotional u-turn. "Great! That's it then!" Did she just use fake tears on me?

"Okay, so where will we be meeting?" I asked

"Meeting?" she repeated.

I folded my arms. "There are other pokemon on this team, right?"

She gave a nervous chuckle. "Actually it's just you and me at the moment."

I raised an eyebrow. "Does this team even have a name?"

"Haven't really though about it," she admitted.

I buried my face into my palm. I'm beginning to think that I should of been more heartless. She obviously didn't put too much thought this.

Reiko grab a hold of my paws and was mere inches away from my face. "What do you think would be a good name for us? You seem to know a lot of unique words."

I didn't want to spend too long thinking about it. I suggested the first thing that popped into my head. "How about Epsilon?"

"Epsilon!" Reiko repeated. "Rescue Team Epsilon... I like it!"

Reiko grabbed a hold of my shoulder with one paw and pointed up at nothing in particular with the other. "From now on we'll be partners and together we'll be helping pokemon across the world! Glad to have you on board!"

And that was how me and Reiko began our careers as part of Rescue Team Epsilon.

...

What have I gotten myself into?!


End file.
